Udo Schaefer

Religious Intolerance as a Source of Violence

translated from the German

by
Dr. Geraldine Schuckelt

The world has not become a more peaceful place since Mahatma Gandhi, shot down
by an assassin, surrendered his spirit on 30 January 1948. Violence, something as old as
mankind itself, has taken on a new dimension in modern industrial societies - it has
become an integral part of our lives, an ordinary, everyday, even trivial occurrence. Just
as fever indicates sickness in the body, so also do the increasing tendency towards
conflict and the readiness to settle conflicts by violence point to a serious malady in
society. It is a society lacking orientation, in which traditional value-systems have lost
their authority. It is a world characterised by nihilism and hedonism, in which fear and
hopelessness are spreading - ideal conditions for the growth of individual and collective
violence. In a world so overshadowed by darkness, the figure of Mahatma Gandhi with
his message of non-violence, his unshakeable faith in a future world of justice, peace and
harmony, is a ray of light, a sign of hope.

One of the most ancient and apparently ineradicable causes of violence is religious
fanaticism. From Cain’s murder of his brother right up to the present day one can trace
throughout human history a trail of blood resulting from religious persecution, religious
wars, "Holy Wars" and religiously motivated acts of violence. The Enlightenment, it is
true, brought about the postulation of religious freedom as a universal human right, a
right now written into the Constitution of every democratic state, thus removing claims to
religious truth from the domain of state power. Yet, at this very time, bloody conflicts
are being conducted in the name of religion in Lebanon, Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Sri
Lanka and Sudan. Religious fanaticism periodically flares up in riots and massacres, as in
India and Egypt, and it is not seldom to hear of atrocities committed under direct
invocation of God and in His name. In the name of the "true" religion minorities are

Udo Schaefer Religious Intolerance as a Source of Violence 1

subjected to persecution, oppression and harassment - the violent persecution of the
Baha-’i-s in Iran is, still today, a sad example of this phenomenon.1

The tragic end to Mahatma’s life demonstrates that it is the promoters of peace, in
particular, that provoke the hatred of fanatics.2 In his case it was his co-religionists who
could not bear the fact that he took the children of the "Untouchables" in his arms, that he
believed in Hindus and Muslims living together in harmony and mutual respect. They
considered his murder an act of piety, praying in the Temple prior to the crime for the
blessing of the Deity. Hatred is never so profound and irreconcilable as when its motives
spring from the deepest levels of consciousness, from religious belief. "Jamais on ne fait
le mal si pleinement et si gaiement que quand on le fait par conscience".3

There is, however, no basis for committing such deeds with a clear conscience: none
of the religions legitimises violence against those who think or believe differently.
Religious fanaticism, the bitter fruit of narrow-minded dogmatism, is the worst
deformation of religion, the perversion of one of the most noble virtues, that of
steadfastness in faith. Its psychological roots lie in vices such as arrogance, pride, and
tacit envy, attitudes which are condemned in all religions as "sin" or even "mortal sin".
Intolerance, fanaticism and religious hatred are "destructive to the foundation of human
solidarity"4 profoundly contrary to the spirit of true religion: Baha-’u’lla-h5, the Founder of
the Baha-’i- Faith, called it "a world-devouring fire", "a desolating affliction"6, and
impressed upon his followers that "The religion of God is for love and unity; make it not
a cause of enmity or dissension."7 ‘Abdu’l-Baha- even went so far as to state that: "If
religion becomes a cause of dislike, hatred and division, it were better to be without it,
and to withdraw from such a religion would be a truly religious act. For it is clear that the
purpose of a remedy is to cure; but if the remedy should only aggravate the complaint it
had better be left alone."8

1 Cf. Douglas Martin, The Persecution of the Baha-’i-s in Iran, Ottawa 1984 (publ. by the Association for Baha-’i- Studies);
Kamran Ekbal, "Die Verfolgung einer religiösen Minderheit: die Baha-’i- im Iran", in: Gewissen und Freiheit, Bern no 31
(1988), pp. 36 ff.
2 Other examples include Dr. Martin Luther King, who modelled himself on Gandhi, Anwar al-Saddat etc.
3 Pascal, Pensées (Paris: Flammarion 1973), no 813 ("Never does one commit evil so thoroughly and so joyfully as when
one does so out of conviction.")
4 ‘Abdu’l-Baha-, The Promulgation of Universal Peace (Wilmette/Ill., 21982), p. 455.
5 1817 – 1892.
6 Epistle to the Son of the Wolf (Wilmette/Ill. 1962), 19.
7 Tablets of Baha-’u’lla-h (Haifa/Israel 1978) 15: 9.
11
8 Paris Talks (London 1969 repr. 1971) 40: 3.

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 Fanaticism is incompatible with the commandments of justice and love. Love
requires tolerance, and this noble virtue means respect for the opinions and beliefs of
others, not out of religious or moral indifference, but, irrespective of one’s own
standpoint, out of respect towards one’s neighbour as a free and equal person with the
inalienable right to his own convictions.

For numerous centuries the spirit of irreconcilable rejection was reflected in the
behaviour of one group of believers towards members of other denominations, or, worse
still, of other religions. Yet in all religions, from the Emperor Ashoka9 to the present,
there have been individuals who have defied the dominant Zeitgeist and stood up for
understanding and tolerance towards other faiths. Cusanus, a Cardinal of the Catholic
Church, who in 1453 coined the sensational phrase "Una religio in rituum varietate", the
Protestant theologians Friedrich Schleiermacher and Friedrich Heiler, the Lutheran
Archbishop Nathan Söderblom, the Indian religious philosopher Savarpalli
Radhakrishnan, the Catholic theologians Raymondo Panikkar and Hans Küng, among
others, have raised their voices for the overcoming of dogmatic claims to exclusivity, for
a fraternal relationship between the religions, for the spirit of love and tolerance in
keeping with the demand in the Qur’a-n: "Let there be no compulsion in religion!"10.
Among these protagonists of religious tolerance, Mahatma Gandhi was undoubtedly the
most significant.

The "Declaration of the Church to non-Christian Religions" of the Second Vatican

Council and the "Guidelines on Dialogue with People of Living Faiths and Ideologies"
produced by the World Council of Churches in 1979 were both of epochal significance in
providing a new orientation based on the spirit of reconciliation. They marked the
beginning "of a serious dialogue of the World Religions", "a slow awakening of a global
ecumenical consciousness" which, according to Hans Küng, is "one of the most
important phenomena of the twentieth century"11. This development is a sign of hope that
in our world of violence, genocide and religious discrimination, the spirit of tolerance
and respect for the inalienability of human dignity and human rights will triumph over
the spirit of irreconcilability, prejudice and hatred. World peace depends upon it: "There

9 (272 - 237 BC) His famous edicts are remarkable testimonies to religious tolerance. Having converted to Buddhism, he
announced that he no longer desired to change the world through the sword but through the power of the moral law, the
Dharma. He calls above all for respect towards believers in other religions and the promotion of all forms of belief.
10 2: 256.
11 Christianity and the World Religions (London 1990), p. XIV.

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will be no peace among the peoples of this world without peace among the world
religions."12

The formulation of sublime principles alone is, however, of little benefit. The
significance of Mahatma Gandhi lies above all in the fact that he did not stop at well-
meaning appeals and the formulation of his principles but in that - despite long years of
incarceration - he exemplarily lived out his principles of all-embracing love for mankind,
religious tolerance and non-violence, engaging his whole personality fearlessly in
corresponding political action: "The world is tired of words; it wants example."13

12 ibid. p. 443.
13 Shoghi Effendi, Living the Life (London 1974), p. 26.

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